Kabbalah is known to be a secret
wisdom. It is precisely this
secrecy surrounding Kabbalah
that gave rise to numerous
legends, falsifications, gossip,
ignorant arguments and wrong
conclusions. Only at the end of
the 20th century was
the wisdom of Kabbalah allowed
to be revealed to all and even
circulated around the world.
Therefore, addressing the reader
at the beginning of this book, I
feel obliged to tear age-old
layers off this ancient wisdom
that is common to all mankind.

The wisdom of
Kabbalah has nothing to do with
religion, meaning it is no more
related to it than physics,
chemistry or mathematics.
Kabbalah is not a religion and
this becomes obvious from the
fact that religious people know
nothing about it and do not
understand a word in it.

The most
profound knowledge about the
laws of the Universe, the method
of apprehending the world, the
achievement of the Purpose of
Creation was kept away from the
religious masses in the first
place. Kabbalah was waiting for
the time, when mankind matures
sufficiently to accept this
wisdom and use it correctly.

It allows man
to control his destiny; it is
the knowledge that was passed to
all peoples of the world.
Kabbalah deals with the realm
hidden from our five senses. It
operates only with spiritual
notions, meaning with things
that happen above the material
level, beyond our perception, in
the upper world.

Kabbalah
describes the upper world by
using the language of metaphor
or the scientific language.

The
metaphorical description: Kabbalah borrows the
names of spiritual objects,
forces and actions from the
language of our world. This is
necessary, because we have no
words at our disposal that can
describe unearthly phenomena.
But since a certain force
descends from each object in the
upper world to form a
corresponding object in ours, a
Kabbalist living in both worlds
sees this connection and
describes the spiritual reality
by using the names of our world.
However, Kabbalists'
descriptions seem like accounts
of earthly actions to those who
have not yet attained the
spiritual realm. Kabbalah speaks
exclusively of what happens in
the upper world. The use of
familiar words and definitions
leads to false conceptions and
erroneous conclusions. Hence,
Kabbalah forbids imagining a
connection between the names of
our world and their spiritual
roots. This is considered the
grossest error in Kabbalah. That is why it was forbidden for so many years up to
this time: man's development
was insufficient to stop
imagining all sorts of witches,
ghosts, angels and similar
devilry, where something totally
different is meant.

The scientific description:
starting from the 90-s of the 20th
century one is allowed to study
Kabbalah and is recommended to
disseminate this wisdom. Why is
that so? It is because people
stopped thinking about natural
forces as manlike creatures,
mermaids, centaurs etc. They are
ready to imagine the upper world
as a domain of forces, force
fields, the world above matter.
Starting from the 16th
century, from the period of the
Lurian Kabbalah this wisdom
began to describe the upper
world by using strictly
scientific definitions and
methods.

What am I living for?

What is the subject of
Kabbalah?

Kabbalah deals with the question
about the purpose of life. From a very young age man starts asking this question, but
then forgets about it in the
course of his life. Man cannot traumatize
himself indefinitely with this
unanswered question. The answer
can be found only in one source - the wisdom of Kabbalah,
which was available only to a
chosen few throughout the
centuries. Generations came and
went, but only representatives
of the last generations can
receive the irrefragable answer
to the most important question.

But even today, when Kabbalah from
a secret doctrine became
accessible practically to all
our contemporaries, it is
intended directly for those who,
having matured and even grown
old, do not cease to ask
themselves this childish
question - what is the point of
my life and the life of all
mankind?

People, who very sharply feel this question, come to
Kabbalah. They do not feel
satisfied, filled in their daily
life. They suffer neither
manias, nor depressions - they
simply cannot reach peace of
mind in this life. Why? Kabbalah
gives the answer to this
question.

Stages of development of
desires

The development of mankind during thousands of years of
its existence is a development
and realization of different
levels of desire. Desires and a
search for ways of their
satisfaction determine this or
that level of civilization's
evolution and everything we
define as technological and
scientific progress.

Owing to the fact that desires constantly improve, i.e.
vary from smaller to bigger,
mankind advances.

Kabbalah divides the entire complex of human desires
into five stages:

- The third stage of
development of desire -
craving for power and fame;

- The fourth stage of
development of desire - thirst
for knowledge;

- The fifth stage of development of desire -
aspiration to spirituality, to the Creator.

The need for sex and food are animal desires, because
animals have them as well. Even
being in full isolation man
feels hunger and the urge to
reproduce, i.e. to have sexual
relations.

Desires for wealth, power, fame and knowledge are
already human desires, since to
satisfy them man must be
surrounded by other people.

Man is born, his animal and human desires develop, and
then he finds out that their
realization does not satisfy
him, since his secret but true
aspiration which he cannot yet
realize and formulate, falls
outside the limits of this
world.

Man receives this desire from above. It is neither
given by nature as animal
desire, nor does it develop
under the influence of a society
as human desires.

Kabbalahcalls this level of desire - the desire of
spiritual light or man's soul.

Kabbalahstudies the spiritual construction named the general
soul or Adam. This construction
consists of 600.000 parts, each
of them in turn splitting into a
multitude of fragments which is
located inside earthly desires.

According to Kabbalah, the Creator is a universal force
governing the entire creation,
which includes all the
individual forces of the
universe.

Emergence of a new kind of
desires

A set of earthlydesires is
called man's heart. And the
fragment (desire), placed in it
from above, is referred to as a
point in heart.

During his biological life in this
world man should completely fill
his spiritual desire. He will
repeatedly come back to our
world, until this goal is
reached. Thus, each generation
in our world constitutes the
same 600.000 souls, vested in
bodies of our world.

Each generation are the 600.000
souls in a rank which are moving
ahead in order to be filled by
spiritual light: the body dies,
and the soul moves and dresses
in a new body, works in it again
for the sake of being filled and
so on until at a certain stage
of development it will not be
filled with the Supreme Light.

Most people feel the needs limited
by the framework of our world.
They include man's creative,
intellectual, cultural
aspirations and the need to
research and understand the
world structure. It testifies
that souls, dressed in the
bodies of these people have not
yet reached a desire for
spirituality - the fifth stage
of our desires development.
Souls of such a type do not
cause aspirations to develop
outside our worldly bodies, in
which they are installed.

But there is a small (so far!)
number of souls of a different
type. Being installed in an
albuminous body, such a soul
forces man to long for something
unearthly and eternal. Like all
others, he tries to be satisfied
with what this world can
provide, but to no avail. He
sees how other people crave for
riches and success, and realizes
it is no more than just a game.
He participates in these
"games", often not
without success, but it brings
him no satisfaction. Gradually,
trying himself in this world,
disappointedand
disenchanted, man begins to feel
that his soul demands a
different kind of filling.
Having at last received a desire
for the spiritual, man feels
that he can no longer fill
himself with earthly pleasures
and feels his life is empty.
Then he begins to look for the
way to fill a new, spiritual
desire.

Search and disappointment are the
highlights of this new kind of
desire, so characteristic of our
time. Starting from the middle
of the 20th century
and later on more and more
people awaken to this spiritual
desire sent from above. Being
combined with all other desires,
it creates a conflict in man's
heart. The fifth desire causes
inner discomfort and ultimately
leads a person to Kabbalah. Such
people come to us and we begin
to explain how they can fill
this desire.

But since spiritual desire descends
from above, it cannot be filled
with objects of our world.
Kabbalah can show man how this
most exalted desire can be
filled.

This Supreme Light is called the
Creator, because He both creates
this desire and fills it.
However, if this desire does not
manifest in man he goes on
living like all others.

Searching for satisfaction
and the process of filling

Human life is a process of endless
search. Man incessantly looks
for something that can satisfy
his new desires: he keeps
seeking after food, wealth, sex,
power and knowledge. All these
desires constantly pop up and
alternate in him. Man devotes
his entire life to satisfying
them.

Many people in the history of
mankind managed to fill their
spiritual desire. In their books
they tell us about the search
for satisfaction and the process
of filling. Their explanations
and the description of this
process have developed into a
science called Kabbalah. Such
people call themselves
Kabbalists.

Kabbalists explain that while being
in our world man should fill his
soul with the light so that it
would rise to the same spiritual
level which it was prior to
descending and dressing in
man's heart, i.e. his earthly
desires. Our task, regardless of
all other desires called
'heart' or 'body', is to
fill that point in heart with
the Supreme light.

Kabbalists say that filling the
soul with the light gives man a
sensation of the upper world.
This means that he can
simultaneously live (feel) both
in the upper world, and in ours.
He unites these two worlds in
him. The state, when man in our
world completely corrects and
fills his soul at the highest
spiritual level, is referred to
as the End of correction of a
soul or simply the End of
correction.

Kabbalah enables the person - from
the moment he has felt
aspiration to spirituality and
owing to this has received the
first information on Kabbalah -
to master a method of filling
his soul, to attain a state of
infinite delight, sensation of
eternity, absolute knowledge and
perfection. Moreover, he
receives an opportunity to
realize it now, in this world,
in this life, instead of coming
back again and again to this
"not the best" of the
worlds, searching and suffering
from birth to death.

Since souls continuously change,
develop and improve, the task of
Kabbalah is to create a method
of reception of the spiritual
filling suitable for each
generation. This science is
called "Kabbalah" -
reception, because it offers a
method of filling the soul with
the light. Kabbalah teaches man
to receive the Supreme Light and
fill the soul with it, i.e. both
desires of the heart and
spiritual desires. It is
possible, since all our desires
are created by this very light.
Hence, only direct filling with
it can satisfy us.

Spiritual desire - what is
it?

The first four categories of
desires being clearly understood
and felt, we have no idea of a
spiritual desire.

Man won't discover what "the
spiritual" means as long he
keeps satisfying his desires by
means of objects of this world.
He sees these objects and knows
exactly what he is after. But
when a spiritual desire awakens
in him, he sees no source that
can possibly fill it. Man feels
helpless and lost: life loses
meaning and taste; there is
nothing to fill it with. He
simply feels bad. Something
uncertain "pulls" him. But
where? Man doesn't know where
to turn, because the source of
pleasure is concealed from him.
Normally he chooses to forget
all about it.

As
kids we ask ourselves: "What
are we living for?", but later
on hormones ignited by
adolescence suppress this
question and the will to
discover the meaning and the
source of life. Our sexual and
intellectual aspirations lead us
away from the solution to this
problem. Then it arises again to
disturb us. Those, who can't
fill the emptiness and demand an
urgent answer to that question,
find Kabbalah or, rather, are
led to it from above: the time
of filling the human soul comes.

Spiritual space

When the human body dies, the soul
passes to a new-born one. From
one life to the next the soul
gradually accumulates readiness
to manifest in man. He lives
many lives without feeling his
soul - an aspiration to the
upper world. Don't confuse it
with the earthly "aspiration
to loftiness", which normally
stands for creativity, poetry,
music and art.

Man feels the manifestation of the soul as a new
desire, longing, as emptiness he
has no idea how to fill. From
this moment the search begins;
ultimately it will lead man to
Kabbalah. Thus all people in the
world are led to Kabbalah,
because it is the only method of
filling the soul.

As soon as man discovers Kabbalah, i.e. finds a
Teacher, books and a group, a
so-called "preparatory
period" (for discovering the
upper world) starts. This period
can last for a few years
(minimum 3 years).

The
spiritual space opens up before
him. Man finds himself on the
periphery of that space with the
Creator being in the very
center. The spiritual space is a
realm of properties similar to a
physical field with a maximum
manifestation of power in the
center and the gradual weakening
of it towards the perimeter
until this property completely
disappears on the border beyond
which our world begins.

By changing his properties with regard to the Creator,
man can move in the spiritual
space: the difference of man's
properties from those of the
Creator makes them remote from
each other, while the similarity
of their properties leads to
their closeness. A complete
equivalence causes them to
merge.

We, in our initial state, are opposite to the
Creator's properties; hence we
are totally outside of this
field and cannot feel the
Creator. Having completed the
preparation period, man reaches
the first, minimal degree of
similarity with the Creator and
crosses the barrier (Machsom)
between our world and the upper
one.

Then he begins his spiritual advancement; distinctly
feeling the Creator, he
consciously corrects his
properties and gets closer to
Him.

This way of gradual rapprochement with the Creator
through the similarity of
properties consists in
consecutive correction, i.e. the
substitution of all 620 egoistic
properties for altruistic
properties. Kabbalah describes
the process as an ascent through
620 steps. It speaks about the
methods of correcting desires on
each of these steps. As a
result, man every time attains
the Creator on a new, higher
level. Man must step by step
correct all his 620 desires,
i.e. climb all 620 levels, while
being in his physical body,
living in this world.

Upon completing his spiritual ascent, he fully
associates himself with the soul
and doesn't have to return to
the material world and
incarnate.

Man's death what dies,
the body or the soul?

Man
does not die, his biological
body does. Originally, all of us
only feel our body the
earthly desires. Then a desire
for spirituality awakens in us.

This desire is not of this world, it belongs to the Creator. If man
develops it, he starts feeling
not only the properties of his
body, but the soul a part of
the Creator's properties in
himself.

If man corrects himself so that the spiritual desires
suppress the desires of the body
and the body completely
associates itself with the soul,
he perceives the death of his
body as shedding a cover from
the soul. The body dies, but man
feels detached from the body
while still living in it.

The
body dies, but man feels
detached from the body while
still living in it. If we live
inside the desires of our world
(sex, food, wealth, power and
knowledge), we receive filling
through our body, i.e. through
its five senses. We may irritate
our brain with electric impulses
by sending signals through
electrodes attached to it and
feel pleasures ostensibly
received through the five
senses. In this case we directly
influence pleasure centers by
sending the same signal they
receive from the sensory
receptors.

This is an example of directly affecting the pleasure
centers, which receive all
signals.

Soul, screen and delight

We receive spiritual desires directly from
above. To fill them we need a
special sense called a
screen (Masach). As soon as
man acquires this sense, he
starts feeling pleasure through
it. The pleasure is called the
Supreme Light. It enters our
desire to enjoy it through the
screen. This desire to enjoy the
Supreme Light is called
soul.The light as a source of
pleasure is not felt unless man
acquires an additional sense
capable of picking it up.

All components: the light (pleasure), the
screen (means of reception) and
the soul (receiver) are in no
way connected to our physical
body. Hence, it doesn't matter
whether man has a body or not.
As soon as man establishes
contact with the Supreme Light,
he begins to correct himself so
as to be filled with it. Gradual
likening of one's properties
to the light and consecutive
filling with it is called the
spiritual ascent.

The body is only a means for the spiritual
advancement in this exciting
process. Otherwise it is of no
other interest. A small pleasure
cannot be felt at all in
comparison with a great delight:
the bigger delight suppresses
it. Therefore, although a
Kabbalist lives in the same
world as we do, he is actually
already in the upper world.

However, since we cannot feel his world, all
his sensations are beyond our
perception, on the other side of
Machsom.

When
man associates himself with his
soul and not with his physical
body, he takes the death of this body as a change of clothes. The
sensations he acquired in this
world do not disappear, and the
world he lives in stays with him
after his body dies. Everyone,
who lives on earth can and must
complete his way in accordance
with the Creator's plan.

What data is Kabbalah based
on?

Kabbalah uses only precise, experience-tested data. No
theories or assumptions are
taken into consideration.
Everything Kabbalah is based on
was received from people who
personally attained the
spiritual sensations through the
point in heart, through the
soul. They tested, measured and
described their sensations. The
combined results of their
research form the science of
Kabbalah.

As any other science, Kabbalah operates with precise
mathematical, physical and
graphical (diagrams and tables)
data. Instead of dealing with
feelings, Kabbalists use
vectors, forces of gravitation
and suppression of desires:
their correlations are
numerically measured; desires
and their filling are accurately
defined. Thus Kabbalists
describe their sensations of the
Supernal Providence.

In our world we can measure neither man's inner
efforts, nor his subjective
sensations, to all the more
accurately compare perceptions
and impressions of two different
people. One can only sympathize
with psychologists and
psychiatrists, who are totally
unable to operate with the
parameters of man's soul.

The history and the language
of Kabbalah

Everything we know about the upper world even before we
discover it by ourselves was
written by people who personally
attained it. They described
their way, their sensations,
conclusions and offered
recommendations so that we could
follow in their path.
Kabbalistic books are the
accounts of their journeys in
the upper world.

Everyone begins to attain the Supreme governing Force
by asking the question about the
point of his life, sufferings,
the purpose in the universe,
destiny and chance. A deep
analysis of these questions
leads man to the necessity of
revelation of the Supreme Force.
The first known Kabbalist
described his impressions of the
divine revelation in the book
entitled "Sefer Yetzira"
around 3700 years ago. He used
the language of Kabbalah in his
book, which is studied by
Kabbalists even today.

The languages of narrative and prophecy are also used
for the description of the
spiritual domain. It makes no
difference for a Kabbalist in
what language a book about the
Creator is written. In any case,
like a musician, who hears music
while looking at the notes, a
Kabbalist feels what the author
described in a Kabbalistic text.

Material and spiritual
senses

We are born with five senses: sight, hearing, smell,
taste and touch, through which
we receive some information from
outside. Our brain processes
this information and produces a
combined picture of the
surrounding world. These
sensations are called "this
world" or "my world".
Precisely speaking, we don't
know what exists around us. We
just determine our reaction to
some outside influence.

Our ear is designed so that a membrane separates
between our inner part and the
outer reality. This membrane may
be more or less sensitive,
healthy or damaged. Accordingly,
we define a sound as strong,
weak, high-pitched, low-pitched
or even imperceptible. The
quality of the sound I hear
depends not on what it is like
on the outside; it is determined
by the parameters of my sense,
i.e. by my inner qualities. What
I feel is not the outer
fluctuations, but my sensor's
reaction to them. In fact, I
perceive something inside and
call it an outside sound.

The same refers to the rest of our senses.

It turns out that we are an absolutely closed system:
each of us feels his inner
reactions to an outside unknown
influence. We can never perceive
objectively something that
happens outside. Whatever we
feel in our senses is processed
by our brain and the information
is presented in a certain way.
Outside of our senses we have no
idea what this information is
like. We are locked inside
ourselves.

What
can the additional consciously
acquired sense provide me with?
It allows receiving information
not via my natural five senses
into my egoistic desires
(interpreting everything in
terms of personal profit, i.e.
being biased), but directly and
impartially. This way I can
achieve a genuine attainment of
the absolute and objective
universe.

This is what Kabbalah can allow
us to do. Like any other
science, Kabbalah is
characterized by repeatability
of experience, registered data
etc. Kabbalah is a science and
has nothing to do with religion.
Religions do not teach Kabbalah,
because it reveals to man the
true universe, where the Supreme
governing Force desires only one
thing - to make man equal to
itself.

Gematria of the soul

If
two Kabbalists read one and the
same description of the upper
world, they will perceive a
certain picture. But how will
they be able to compare their
sensations? Everyone feels them
according to the inner
properties of his soul.

If one Kabbalist has a bigger screen than another and
his spiritual level is higher,
the pictures he can see will
definitely be different. If you
are in the 5th grade
and I am in the 10th,
you naturally understand more
than I do.

The quality of the soul is a combination of all of its
properties. Man in our world has
an entire set of properties:
greed, jealousy, mercy etc., but
everyone has them in a different
proportion. By studying Kabbalah
one can find out the desires of
the soul, describe and formulate
its structure.

The Creator created a single desire - the soul called
"Adam". 600.000 fixed
structures, separate souls can
be singled out in it. Each soul
(both common and individual)
includes 620 inner parts,
desires. Their combination
determines the soul structure.

Each of these soul structures receives its name
according to the principal,
distinctive quality. It has a
numerical value called Gematria.
Gematria of combined
properties is expressed by
letters, i.e. the Hebrew letters
are used instead of numbers. In
order to define the souls
numerically, they are given
names, since originally there
were no numbers in Hebrew (they
are designated by letters).

Then absolute attainment is
achieved

As a result of their correction, all souls merge into
one common soul and start
interrelating within a unified
system. This common soul
construction binds all
individual souls together, so
that ultimately each of them
feels what all the others feel.
Then absolute attainment is
achieved. Such a state is called
the Final Correction. Afterwards
the soul, which receives the
light from above ascends to the
Source - the Creator, becomes
equal to Him.

All the souls are obliged to achieve this state not
later than 6000 thousand years
from the point of "the world
creation" - when the
aspiration to the upper world
awakened in man for the first
time. The year of 2004 coincides
with 5764 from "the creation
of the world". We have a
little more than two hundred
years left, but our efforts may
considerably shorten that
period.

Why is Kabbalah a science
about reception of pleasure?

In Kabbalah we understand pleasure as filling in all
its manifestations: material,
moral, intellectual or physical.
Furthermore, here we speak of
delight (filling), which is
absolute, eternal, perfect and
infinite.

Delight is felt only when a very strong desire is
present - provided there is a
crystal-clear desire for
something, which is unavailable.
The received pleasure instantly
extinguishes desire, which in
turn reduces pleasure. The
greatest delight is felt only
during the first contact of the
desire with the desired, the way
the first bit of food feels in a
hungry man's mouth. Then
hunger subsides, the desire
disappears and satiation sets
in. The food stops bringing the
delight that was felt at the
beginning of the meal. Gourmets
leave the most delicious dishes
for the end of a feast, because
greater delight compensates for
the lack of desire.

If
we start researching various
kinds of pleasure we receive
from knowledge, power, riches,
sex and food, we'll notice
that all of them diminish upon
reception of the desired.
Oftentimes man works for years
to get what he wants, but having
received the object, stops
enjoying it.

Just disappearance of the sensation of pleasure forces
us to look for new delights.
Advertising, fashion etc. supply
us with new desires, and we get
carried away by the constant
chase after anticipated
pleasures. Once the desired is
received, we feel compelled to
seek new enjoyment. This process
is endless. Hence, man can never
really be delighted. He is
constantly moving.

Kabbalah
teaches man how to receive
non-vanishing pleasures:
eternal, absolute and perfect,
revealed as permanent peace and
delight. Hence, this method is
called "Hochmat HaKabbalah"
(the science of reception). It
was given to us by the Creator,
so that our enormous desires
would be immediately satisfied,
and then new desires would
emerge, be fulfilled and so on.
The absence of a gap between a
desire and its filling would
allow us to enjoy never-ending
peace and delight.

How can such desire be created? It does not exist in
our world. Hence, the soul is
opposite to our entire world. It
differs from this world by its
property of altruism called "a
screen" in Kabbalah. The
process of acquiring a screen is
a subject of Kabbalah studies.

We speak about a strictly practical approach, about
mastering a special method. It
can be accomplished in the
process of studying certain
Kabbalistic books. For example,
the principal kabbalistic
six-volume composition "The
Study of Ten Sefirot" is
compiled as a regular academic
textbook: in each of its 16
parts, on more than 2000 pages
the structure of the upper world
is expounded in a modern
language. Then the part entitled
"The Inner Reflection" gives
a more detailed explanation of
its functioning. The part called
"The Meanings of Words"
provides the questions referring
to the meaning of the used
words. Finally the part
"Questions and Answers"
deals with descriptions and
explanations of the spiritual
phenomena.

We are waiting for all those, who find no peace
searching for the answer to the
questions about the structure
and functioning of the universe,
about the purpose of life. These
are the people, who discover the
spiritual point in their hearts.
For them we created our Internet
site in 22 languages - http://www.kabbalah.info.